The realization of optical hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) devices is hindered by the fact that metals (used as HMM subwavelength building blocks) with their large negative permittivity and high losses in the optical frequency range are detrimental to HMM performance, leading, for example, to a very poor transmission through the HMMs. Moreover, in order to achieve significant enhancement of PDOS (photonic density of states), the individual HMM layers need to be as thin as possible (PDOS in a HMM is inversely related to the cube on the layer thickness). Noble metal films (i.e. gold or silver) currently used to create HMM structures cannot be patterned into ultra-thin layers without compromising their quality, which leads to additional losses. Thus, realization of metal-based HMMs with deep subwavelength layers and good optical performance is extremely challenging. Moreover, neither gold nor silver offers thermal stability and silicon CMOS compatibility, which is required far many technology-driven applications. The present invention offers an alternative material as a building block for HMMs and new metamaterial-based technological applications.